O-Gami paper for complex models

I’ve had a message from the Director of Paper Circle in Ohio (a non-profit paper and book arts centre). Two years ago they were encouraged by the Columbus origami group Capital Area Paper Shapers to come up with paper for wet folding and super complex designs. So, they came up with “O-Gami” in the hope that they would help artists while creating a product that would bring an income to the centre.

Robert Lang has helped them to get them going (“This paper is thin, strong and beautiful and is easily up to the most demanding of super-complex designs.“) and their online shop is now open. O-Gami is handmade from abaca, and/or flax or hemp and it is “really super strong and crisp” and has been compared to paper from Origamido. The sheets are 22x 28 inches and come in three thicknesses: super-thin being 23gsm up to 200 gsm per 22×28 inch sheet

It sounds like it’s worth ordering a few sheets – decent paper is so hard to find!

However, it is also expensive paper, which raises the question of how much the average folder is prepared to spend on paper.

Michael La Fosse advocates that we should not be shy about working with the finest materials. This is sensible if you are a professional artist or your work is regularly displayed. But what of the rest of us ?

I strive to fold my origami as beautifully as possible and to honour the paper. I love finding, choosing, and using unusual papers. Yesterday I was delighted to find a beautiful wrapping paper at Waterstones that cost £2.50. I thought that was quite expensive, but it was perfect for a gift that I wanted to give someone. Otherwise, though, my origami sits on my shelf and is seen by few people, and I am not terribly interested in super – complex origami that demands such high specification paper. Apart from anythng else, whenever I have bought expensive paper, I have been reluctant to use it in case I make a mistake ! Whilst, therefore, I would love to fold with such a beautiful paper, and I am sure it is a joy to handle, fold and look at, I am not sure that I could justify it for the vast majority of my origami work. I expect that many folders would agree with me on this.

I’ve bought a lot of high quality paper in the past, especially whilst in Japan(!) and a lot of it remains in pristine condition – I’m never quite sure when a model “deserves” it! I guess for exhibition models, you should use the best you can lay your hands on, but then I often give all my exhibits away, so they can’t be stored for future use elsewhere.

I think we possibly spend so much time folding with cheap, mass-produced paper that it becomes the norm and so we baulk at professional prices. However, this paper is, I understand, hand-made and that always implies a premium.

It is easy to become lazy and spend too much time folding with cheap paper, and then wonder why the finished model does not look so good, or has faded or collapsed after a few months.

We should not be too lazy with paper. Earlier this week, a grateful client, having visited my office and seen all the origami on display, thanked me not with the usual bottle of plonk, but a packet of yuzen paper. I was folding this at lunchtime today and had forgotten what a pleasure it was to fold such a beautiful paper ; beautiful to look at, beautiful to the touch, sensual to fold.

I have no doubt that this is a very fine paper, and I do not object to its price on its own terms, I simply wonder whether I can justify it at my own level. I only wish I was a good enough folder, and had enough disposable income !